"You liked the army, didn't you? You didn't want to give it up."
"I wasn't going to be driven out by Severance and Co. I shouldn't mind so much going of my own accord."
"Wouldn't you like to stay in the Guards for some years anyhow, and reap the reward of what you've done?—coming over here to Vision House now and then on leave, till you're ready to rest and settle down for good?"
"Sounds pretty ideal, as you put it. But I'll be content enough either way. It's for you to decide for me, as things stand. But oh, by the by, I forgot! I'm really rather a rich man, Marise. I've made my fortune three times over, and I've got umpteen thousands more than I need for myself or Mothereen. I want you to have alimony——"
"Oh no!" she exclaimed. "I'm rich too—quite rich, enough."
"But I wish you to take something of mine, don't you understand? And money's the only thing I have that you could possibly care to have."
Marise began to cry again, twice as hard as before.
"There is—something else of yours I'd care to have," she choked, "if—if it isn't too late."
"It's never too late."
"But you don't know what I mean."